New recipe, April 26, 2014

Quick Rotini with Sausage and Tomato Sauce from the May 2014 Cooking Light, served with the Chopped Kale Salad with Prosciutto and Figs from the May 2014 Food and Wine. We give the rotini a 3, it has nice flavors. The salad was another step up, we give it a 4.

Dessert was a reprise of the Top Secret Mousse from NPR

Wine: Fattoria Rodáno Poggialupi 2007--a nice match

New recipe, February 20, 2014

We celebrated Jim Dugger's birthday today, a couple days late. The new recipe is Flat Iron Steaks with Blue Cheese Butter from the February 2025 Food and Wine. The butter makes this dish, and it is a 5! Served with roasted fingerling potatoes and a simple green salad.

Wine: Seghesio Omaggio 2006 (thanks Jim!)--a fabulous match.

For dessert we repeated the Top Secret Mousse from NPR's Found Recipes. This matched beautifully with Dow's 2012 Vintage Porto

New recipes, February 14, 2014

Chicken Thighs with Cilantro Sauce from the March 2014 Cooking Light. We had a particularly hot shallot, so we give this a 3. Could easily be a 4 with a more balanced allium. Served with an impromptu salad with apple, bell pepper and celery.

No wine, as we went to see Wonderbound's production of "Love."

Dessert after the show was the "Top Secret Mousse" from NPR's Found Recipe series. This was excellent, gets a 4. Served with Secco Italian Bubbles 2011 Rosé--nice, a bit overpowered by the chocolate.  We added a few raspberries and some edible gold for Valentine's Day.